Genetics News And Research - December 2009 Archives
It's the ultimate goal in the treatment of cancer: tailoring a person's therapy based on his or her genetic makeup. While a lofty goal, scientists are steadily moving forward, rapidly exploiting new technologies. Researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center report a significant advance in this field of research using a new chip that looks for hundreds of mutations in dozen of genes.
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Researchers at MIT and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals report this week that they have successfully used RNA interference to turn off multiple genes in the livers of mice, an advance that could lead to new treatments for diseases of the liver and other organs.
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In order to preserve our DNA, cells have developed an intricate system for monitoring and repairing DNA damage. Yet precisely how the initial damage signal is converted into a repair response remains unclear. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have now solved a crucial piece of the complex puzzle.
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Researchers have uncovered the complete genetic make-up of the cavity-causing bacterium Bifidobacterium dentium Bd1, revealing the genetic adaptations that allow this microorganism to live and cause decay in the human oral cavity. The study, led by Marco Ventura's Probiogenomics laboratory at the University of Parma, and Prof. Douwe van Sinderen and Dr Paul O'Toole of the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre at University College Cork, is published December 24 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.
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A Chicago research team is one year into a three-year project to collect and analyze the genetic sequence and variations of every gene expressed by 1,000 tumors with a long-term goal of translating genomic discoveries into diagnostic tools and therapeutic strategies.
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 | Genome scientists from the US and Germany have assembled the first pages of a comprehensive encyclopedia of genomes of all the microbes on Earth. ...> Full Article |
Identical twins look the same and are nearly genetically identical, but environmental factors and the resulting cellular changes could cause disease in one sibling and not the other. In a study published online in Genome Research, scientists have studied twins discordant for the autoimmune disease lupus, mapping DNA modifications across the genome and shedding light on epigenetic changes that may play a role in the disease.
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A group of Norwegian and American researchers have shown that common variations in genes associated with microcephaly -- a neuro-developmental disorder in which brain size is dramatically reduced --may explain differences in brain size in healthy individuals as well as in patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders.
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 | Boston University biomedical engineers have devised a method for making future genome sequencing faster and cheaper by dramatically reducing the amount of DNA required, thus eliminating the expensive, time-consuming and error-prone step of DNA amplification. ...> Full Article |
DNA's packaging can be just as important and intricate as the information in the DNA itself. A "histone code" is thought to lie behind the pattern of chemical modifications on histones, the spool-like proteins around which DNA is wound inside the cell. The structures of two enzymes that modify histones give clues towards an understanding of the histone code.
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Scientists can gain insights into new ways to use microorganisms in medicine and manufacturing through a coordinated large-scale effort to sequence the genomes of not just individual microorganisms but entire ecosystems, according to a new report from the American Academy of Microbiology that outlines recommendations for this massive effort.
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What secrets about your risk for diseases are written in your own personal "Book of Life" -- the 30,000 or so genes that make you you? Advances in DNA-sequencing technology are bringing closer the day when it will be more economical for consumers to get an answer to that question, and others, by ordering up the deciphering of their entire genetic endowment -- their "personal genome." That's the possibility that Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine, raises in a compelling new cover story.
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 | Groundbreaking findings from Tel Aviv University's Professor Gil Ast and his team reveal a new mechanism to explain how splicing works. They've discovered that the structure of DNA itself affects the ways RNA is spliced. "These findings," says Professor Ast, "will bring us closer to understanding diseases like cystic fibrosis and certain forms of cancer that result from our cells' failure to edit sequences properly." ...> Full Article |
Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have solved a 10-year-old mystery of how a single protein from an ancient family of enzymes can have two completely distinct roles in the body. In addition to providing guidance for understanding other molecules in the family, the research supplies a theoretical underpinning for the protein's possible use for combating diseases including cancer and macular degeneration.
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 | Scientists at EMBL and the MRC discovered that if a specific gene located on a non-sex chromosome is turned off, cells in the ovaries of adult female mice turn into cells typically found in testes. Their study, published in Cell, challenges the long-held assumption that the development of female traits is a default pathway and grants a valuable insight into how sex determination evolved. ...> Full Article |
Researchers have discovered a new explanation for differences in the severity of mental illness in males. The more excess copies of a certain gene, the more serious the handicap. The genetic defect is situated on the X-chromosome; and it is suspected that it is the amount of copies of the GDI1 gene that is responsible.
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 | Scientists have designed a synthetic protein that is both a structural model and a functional model of a native protein, nitric-oxide reductase. ...> Full Article |
 | University of Georgia scientists looking to understand the genetic mechanisms of plant defense and growth have found for the first time in plants an inverse relationship between gene duplication and alternative splicing. The finding has implications for diversity not only in plants, but in animals and humans. ...> Full Article |
The economically important, environmentally sensitive Atlantic salmon species will have its genome fully sequenced.
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A protein that plays a key role in copying DNA also plays a vital role in repairing breaks in it, UC Davis scientists have found. The work is helping researchers understand how cancer cells can resist radiation and chemotherapy, as well as how cells become cancerous in the first place.
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 | Scientists from the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Harvard University, and the Indian Institute of Science has made a major step in understanding how molecules locate the genetic information in DNA that is necessary to carry out important biological processes. The research confirms that many proteins responsible for interacting at specific sites on DNA find their targets by sliding along one of the grooves of the double helix in a spiraling fashion. ...> Full Article |
Researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine have pinpointed a mechanism that may help explain how chromosomal translocations -- the supposedly random shuffling of large chunks of DNA that frequently lead to cancer -- aren't so random after all. They have developed a model of such chromosomal mix-ups in prostate cancer which indicates that the male sex hormone (androgen) receptor unexpectedly plays a key role in driving specific translocations in the development of cancer.
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 | Yale University researchers have found very large RNA structures within previously unstudied bacteria that appear crucial to basic biological functions such as helping viruses infect cells or allowing genes to "jump" to different parts of the chromosome. ...> Full Article |
 | In the fruitfly Drosophila, oskar mRNA, which is involved in defining the animal's body axes, is produced in the nuclei of nurse cells neighboring the oocyte, and must be transported to the oocyte and along its entire length before being translated into protein. In a study published today in Cell, scientists at EMBL in Heidelberg, Germany, have visualized the molecular mechanism that underlies this localization process. ...> Full Article |
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Nanoparticle opens the door to clean-energy alternatives
Astronomers gear up to discover Earth-like planets
Tillage and reduced-input rotations affect runoff from agricultural fields
A 20-minute bout of yoga stimulates brain function immediately after
A new approach for managing investment funds
Whispering light hears liquids talk
Amount of dust blown across the West is increasing
Research paints new picture of 'dinobird' feathers
Printing artificial bone
Data highways for quantum information
Scientists create novel silicon electrodes that improve lithium-ion batteries
Repairing turbines with the help of robots
New archaeogenetic research refutes earlier findings
Researchers discover 2-step mechanism of inner ear tip link regrowth
Female moths use olfactory signals to choose the best egg-laying sites
Research shows copper destroys norovirus
What role does sleep play in memory and learning?
Chlamydia protein has an odd structure, scientists find
Borneo stalagmites provide new view of abrupt climate events over 100,000 years
MRI study: Breastfeeding boosts babies' brain growth
Doctors should screen for frailty to prevent deaths
Peer pressure tests grade schoolers -- not just adolescents
New mathematical model links space-time theories
Seahorse's armor gives engineers insight into robotics designs
Do palm trees hold the key to immortality?
New strategy for fingerprint visualization developed at Hebrew University
How Usain Bolt can run faster -- effortlessly
Spanish researchers sequence the genome of global deep ocean
Scientists identify thousands of plant genes activated by ethylene gas
How to stop a trunk and start a tail? The leg has the key
Researchers develop easy and effective therapy to restore sight
Study shows how young genes become essential for life
New method of mass-producing high-quality DNA molecules
The inside story behind the approval of the gene therapy drug Glybera